Lean Marketing House » Kaizen

Is PDCA the culture of Lean?

admin — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 04:13:00 +0000

I have always considered PDCA as the culture of Lean. I get frustrated when I hear about Lean only discussed in terms of flow and waste reduction. In a recent Business901 Podcast, Gemba Coach talks PDCA, Dr. Michael Balle and myself had a discussion on this subject. This is a transcription of the podcast.

Gemba Coach talks PDCA

View more documents from Joseph Dager.

Dr. Balle is a multiple Shingo Prize winner as an author of the The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager. His newest Shingo Prize was on the adaption of The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround to an audiobook that features performances by multiple readers who bring its realistic business story and characters to life.

Dr. Michael Balle is the Gemba Coach at the Lean Enterprise Institute

Little Bets – The Way to take an Affordable Risk

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 02:41:00 +0000

Start Small, Iterate a lot, Scale – that’s the advice from Peter Sims, the author of the new book Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries. When reading the book, you can’t help but think about Eric Ries of The Lean Startup fame. Eric characterizes his Little Bets with the description of the Pivot. The resounding theme of both of these authors is of PDCA and testing a hypothesis. Listen to Peter Sims version:

Peter’s book is refreshingly entertaining citing numerous examples from Chris Rock to Pixar on how they use Little Bets in their development of a comedy skit to a full scale “Pivot” (Pivot has become mainstream – Eric) by Pixar. If you’re a Lean enthusiast and/or a devoted follower of the Lean Startup you will find this book worthwhile reading. Great take on the subject and examples of working and developing your hypothesis in real life.

"I have always believed that constant innovation is core to success. The methods Peter Sims provides in the highly engaging Little Bets will help you challenge the status quo and discover extraordinary new possibilities in whatever endeavor you’re engaged in." — Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO, Starbucks

Using A3 to introduce Lean – Dr. Balle Video

admin — Thu, 19 May 2011 02:22:00 +0000

Lean technology has now evolved from the manufacturing floor to the whole enterprise. Many companies have found real value in applying the fundamental concepts of Lean throughout the organization. The lean concepts of Kaizen, PDCA and the tools such as Pareto Charts, 5 Why’s and even Poka Yoke are commonplace.

As a result of discussing a Lean Enterprise with Dr. Michael Balle, I asked him about his thoughts on Introducing PDCA or A3 to services is it feasible?

Dr. Michael Ballé is a business researcher and consultant and has studied lean transformation for the past 15 years. He is Associate Researcher at Télécom Paris Tech and the co-founder of the French Lean Institute (www.institut-lean-france.fr) and the Project Lean Enterprise (www.lean.enst.fr). He coaches CEOs and senior executives in using lean to radically improve their businesses’ performances and establish lean cultures.

Dr. Balle is also a Shingo Prize winner as an author of the The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager. His newest Shingo Prize was on the adaption of The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround to an audiobook that features performances by multiple readers who bring its realistic business story and characters to life.

PDCA, Kaizen & Culture in a Lean Enterprise

admin — Fri, 13 May 2011 02:30:00 +0000

As a result of discussing a Lean Enterprise with Dr. Michael Balle, I asked him about his thoughts on the culture of Lean.

Dr. Michael Balle is the Gemba Coach at the Lean Enterprise Institute

Lean is not a revolution, Lean is solve one thing and prove one thing!

admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 03:42:00 +0000

As Dr. Balle said, “Toyota didn’t become number one by having lower manufacturing costs, they became number one by making cars people bought.”

Excerpt from the Transcription of the Business901 Podcast, Outside the Walls of a Lean Enterprise:

Joe: Before you start can you define Kaizen? Are you defining Kaizen as just continuous improvement?

Michael: Kaizen has two aspects. One aspect is problem solving, which means every production cell should work at a certain level of standard. Everything should work at a certain level. Then, because the environment changes all the time, the machinery runs down, the customer changes their mind. You know, something happens. So, we’re not at that level. We have to do is to fight very hard every day to stay at that level although the environment has changed.

The second part of Kaizen is, once you are at that level, how do you push the limit? How do you move beyond? How do you have the number of quality problems you have? How do you do the same volume work with one person less on the team in the process, but not with working harder? How do you work safer? That would be the second element of Kaizen. So one is just holding to the standards no matter what the world throws at you. The second time is once you hold your standard, how do you push yourself to actually improve the standard? That would be Kaizen, and Kaizen in terms of small, practical steps.

This is not a revolution, this is solve one thing and prove one thing. This is not turning everything around.

Outside the Walls of a Lean Enterprise

Audio Version: Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround
The audiobook features performances by multiple readers who bring its realistic business story and characters to life. You’ll hear from:

Developing a Kaizen Conscious with Shingo Prize winner Michael Balle

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:02:00 +0000

Michael Ballé is the co-author of, The Gold Mine, a bestselling business novel of a Lean Turnaround, and recently, The Lean Manager, a novel of a Lean Transformation both published by the Lean Enterprise Institute. For the past 15 years, he has studied lean transformations, helping companies develop a lean culture. He is an engaging and colorful public speaker, and I think you will find in the podcast, he lives up to his reputation. Great discussion on Lean Tools, Lean Systems, Thinking Processes and their relationship to management. I have never heard this take on Kaizen and the continuous improvement process before. Maybe, because it is so simple.

As a managing partner of ESG Consultants, Michael coaches executives in obtaining exceptional performance through using the lean tools, principles, and management attitudes. His main coaching technique is the “Real Place Visit,” where he helps senior executives to learn to see their own operational shop floors, teach their people the spirit of kaizen and draw the right conclusions for their business as a whole. He has assisted companies in their lean transformations in various fields such as manufacturing, engineering, construction, services, and healthcare.

When those old guys say stuff, you should listen!

How much Planning is enough – Use Lean and Standardize

It takes guts, to start with lean training in a turnaround!

Technorati : Continuous Improvement, Kaizen, Lean, Lean Tools, Systems Thinking